1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to an information processing apparatus having a built-in television-broadcast receiving function for receiving television broadcasts, and more particularly, to an information processing apparatus which allows viewers to watch television broadcasts regardless of the reception condition of the television broadcasts.
2. Description of the Related Art
Personal computers (hereinafter referred to as “PCs”) having a television-broadcast receiving function are becoming widespread. At present, desk-top PCs having a television-broadcast receiving function are primarily used. However, when digital terrestrial broadcasts start in Japan in 2003, it will be possible to receive relatively high-quality images while viewers are moving. It is thus expected that a television-broadcast receiving function will be installed in mobile terminal devices, such as notebook PCs.
As discussed above, because of the forthcoming implementation of digital terrestrial broadcasts, it will become possible to easily watch television broadcasts with mobile terminal devices. However, the following problems will be encountered.
When a viewer watches a television broadcast while moving around outdoors, the broadcast wave may be intercepted by, for example, buildings, thus causing the intensity (strength) of the received signal to decrease, thereby interrupting the continuous reception of images.
In order to solve the problem of fading caused by the reception of broadcast waves via a plurality of paths, diversity reception should be performed. This, however, makes it necessary to increase the size of mobile terminal devices due to, for example, the need to provide a plurality of antennas.
Additionally, when a viewer watches a television broadcast with a mobile terminal device indoors, high quality images cannot always be received due to the influence of objects intercepting the signals, such as the walls of buildings. This may be overcome by connecting the mobile terminal device to an antenna cable or by using a wireless local area network (LAN). However, the connection of an antenna cable restricts the viewing location, thus preventing the viewer from moving around indoors, thereby eliminating the advantages of using a mobile terminal device. Unlike the reception of television broadcasts, the use of a wireless LAN requires the transmission of radio waves, which increases the power consumption and also increases the number of bands required to receive high bandwidth data, such as, moving pictures. This results in a decrease in the transmission rate of other wireless LAN devices regardless of the reception condition of a television broadcast by using a mobile terminal device.
Also, when a viewer is away from his/her local area, he/she is unable to watch local broadcasts.